the news nation is following the exchange of fire. president obama and speaker john boehner are locked in a whatever words this afternoon one day after republicans rebuffed the president's first proposal to overt the so-called fiscal cliff. first up, the president. the president who traveled to a toy company in pennsylvania today to call on congress to extend tax cuts for the middle class. president obama playing a little hardball accusing republicans of playing politics at the expense of american families. >> it's not acceptable to me and i don't think it's acceptable to for you republicans to hold tax cuts hostage because they don't want rates on upper folks to go up. >> john boehner scheduled a last

minute news conference. fired back with this. >> increasing tax rates draws money away from our economy that needs to be invested in our economy to put the american people back to work. it's the wrong approach. >> as the rhetoric heats up, the clock continues to tick down. after today, there are just ten legislative days on the calendar. the house announced they will be recessing one day early next would he week. joining me now from the white house, white house correspondent kristen welker. what's the latest from 1600 pennsylvania? >> well, good afternoon, craig. as you can see the holiday decorations are going up here at the white house. but it doesn't seem like anyone is in the holiday spirit. in fact, house speaker john boehner today said that these negotiations are essentially in a stalemate. president obama as you know hit the road, went to hatfield,

pennsylvania to take his case to the people of pennsylvania. trying to put pressure on republicans to get on board with his plan to increase taxes on the wealthiest americans. he made his case at a toy maker there and exceptionally said that if lawmakers can't get a deal done by the first of the year, taxes will go up on middle class americans by about $2,000. that will be bad for middle class americans and also bad for businesses like connects toy maker which is where he spoke a little earlier on today. especially as we enter the busy holiday shopping season. here is a little more of what president obama had to say today. take a listen. >> if congress does nothing, every family in america will see their income taxes automatically go up on january 1st. every family. everybody here, you'll see your taxes go up on january 1st. i mean, i'm assuming that doesn't sound too good to you. that's sort of like the lump of

coal you get for christmas. that's a scrooge christmas. >> reporter: timothy geithner put forth the president's sort of starting bid while he was on the hill on thursday. it includes $1.6 trillion in new taxes, $400 billion in cuts to medicare and other entitlements which will take place at a later date, and also about $50 billion in new stimulus spending. republicans are essentially calling it a nonstarter today. majority leader eric cantor said that it's not a serious proposal. as you heard, house speaker john boehner essentially said that this isn't something that we can work with. their main sticking point are the taxes number one, it's about twice what they would be willing to talk about, and also they say entitlement reforms just don't go deep enough. the president is saying show me your plan. this is essentially the president's opening bid. he is feel being emboldened by his re-election. he's also been criticized in the past by democrats who say he

hasn't been tough enough during these negotiations. so the company really coming out with a proposal that is clearly being balked at by republicans. but now the white house essentially saying that it is in the republicans' court to make the next move. but right now these negotiations are essentially deadlocked and the clock is ticking. >> all right. kristen welker, thank you so much. joining me now, politico nationally syndicated talk show ho host, michael, and speaker boehner make nothing bones about this afternoon when he was asked about the current state of negotiations. take a listen. >> there's a stalemate. let's not kid ourselves. i'm not trying to make this more difficult. if you've watched me over the last three weeks, i've been very guarded in what i had to say. >> how much of this is about

political posturing? >> probably about 99% of it. look, but i don't disagree with the assessment from the white house or the speaker's office. things are at a stalemate right now. neither side is anywhere close to where they would need to be in order to get a deal. not just on taxes, but also on entitlements. the republicans are being very clear that they want cuts to entitlements, increases to medicare eligibility age for instance, changes to the wayc ae ups paid for more wealthy senior citizens. and they say we need to lock in these cuts before we talk about revenues. and when they talk about revenue, they're talking about -- they're not talking about extending, increasing the tax rate for the top income earners. and the democrats say we need to extend all taxes for folks who make more than $250,000 a year.

so they are really talking about two different things right now. not even close. as we know, we're only a month away from the critical year end deadline. >> michael, let's talk about the president's trip to pennsylvania today where you are. why this toy company in suburban philly and why even bother traveling? would he have been better served to stay behind closed doors in d.c. to continue negotiations with congressional leaders? >> these folks make tinker toys and lincoln logs. i bet you remember both of those because i certainly do. i don't think he was drawn to the products. i think he was probably drawn to the area because this is where you come when you're trying to win hearts and minds. these are those philly burbs that are up for grabs. you hear about them every four years. they're not i'd logically driven. they tend to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. and it seems he's here to win folks over so as to win his bargaining position when he does

have to deal with speaker boehner. >> let's talk about the president's opening offer. it's gotten a lot of attention here. it includes no plan at this point for actual structural reform to entitlement programs. instead of spending cuts, the president's plan also calls for about $50 billion initially of more stimulus spending. most of that on infrastructure. why start with a nonstarter? what's the strategy behind opening with an offer that the white house knows the gop is not going to accept? >> well, what offer will they accept? i mean, this is like a football team that lost the super bowl and is trying to negotiate for the super bowl rings. you can't decide the future based on losing the past. we had an election. the president put a proposal out there. it has $1.6 trillion in new revenue that includes revenue from deductions that the republicans are talking about, and also includes increasing the tax rates. but there are also spending cuts in there that republicans don't want it acknowledge. it's $34 trillion appropriate.

and the president has put a proposal together that actually is beneficial to him because from a political point of view, if we do go off the fiscal cliff, the republicans are the ones that will get blamed for it, not the president according to the polls. and if we don't go off the fiscal cliff, the republicans will get blamed from their right wing base for capitulating. so they're in a damned if you do, damned if you don't position. the president has strong hand here. >> you mentioned medicare. let's focus on entitlement reform here specifically. this was congressman eric cantor this afternoon. take a listen. >> what we've always said is we want to fix the problem. we want to make sure that we get a handle on these unfunded obligations, connect it with the sbilgtszment programs. we want to stop the spending problem so we can then go about trying to manage down the debt and deficit. >> nbc's first read made this point. the white house is sending the message that if republicans want

entitlement reform, they're the ones who will have to propose it. how much of this is about getting the gop to do some of the dirty work on a sticky issue for democrats? >> i think that is a very big part of it. look, nobody -- we just went through a campaign in which medicare, the ryan budget, and changes to medicare and cuts out of medicare were such a huge issue, both sides claiming that they wanted to protect seniors. but, look, i think the democrats believe that they have an opportunity, they have leverage on the tax issue, that they don't want to talk about these entitlement changes until the republicans agree to increase the tax rate on the top 2%. because after all, there was a bill that passed out of the senate and they believe that at the end of the day, if that bill is still on the plate, on the republicans' plate in the house, they'll have to pass it staring down the fiscal cliff. >> but here's the thing. both sides acknowledge that

you're not going to get a deal done without some sort of change to entitlements. specifically medicare. >> well, i'm not so sure what that means when you say it's some sort of change. some sort of structural change to medicare? i'm not sure that has to be on the table. i do think, though, that we do have to have some spending cuts and the president has acknowledged that, as well. but the basis of the problem is you have to have -- the republican party is intransigent about the idea of tax increases and the taxes will grow up after december 31st regardless of what happens. if you don't do anything, they'll go up. so you have to do something. you'll have 98% of the american people who will get a tax cut under president obama's proposal, 97% of american small businesses will get a tax cut. so why not come to a negotiated deal on the things that we agree on and put aside the other things. we don't thesely have to agree on those 2%. let's work on where there is some sort of compromisable

solution or common ground. >> michael sm, what do you thins going on behind these meetings, what do you think these conversations are like? >> i don't know. i'm frustrated by the approach. i don't like the way this is all being litigated publicly and maybe it there's not an alternative. it seems that this deal gets done when the president is behind closed doors with john boehner. i think that's what it will take. it speaks to me, craig, of how there's no socialization left in washington. members of congress are there tuesday through thursday. they get out of dodge. their kids aren't in school there. not enough sharing of cocktails among one another. and frankly, i think they need to spend more time together and stop litigating this thing openly. >> bipartisan bourbon perhaps. >> yes. >> you had a piece in politico this week and here is the headline. democrats bet republicans cave

on taxes. how confident are democrats that they're going to win this thing, they'll make this happen. >> they feel like this looks like the 2011 payroll tax. remember at the time house republicans were not going to pass that extension to that payroll tax holiday, but they felt boxed in at the end of the day and they eventually had to do what the president wanted. democrats believe that they have the issue here, they have a bill that passed out of the senate. they think the house will adopt it. the republicans say there is just no way that's going to happen, that in order to get any sort of deal on revenue, democrats have to -- have a fantastic weekend, gentlemen. coming up, we're following developing news from the supreme court where we're waiting to hear if the high court takes up

several major challenges to same-sex marriage. plus -- >> i was positioning is that the right newspapers, is that the right numbers. and i was shaking. and i called my husband and i said i think i'm having a heart attack. >> you'd be having one, too. meet the millionaire, folks. a missouri couple comes forward to claim their half of the record power ball jackpot. details on that straight ahead. don't forget as always you can join our conversation. we are on twitter. @newsnation. is what drives us to broadcast the world's biggest events in 3d, or live to your seat high above the atlantic ocean. it's what drives us to create eco-friendly race tracks, batteries that power tomorrow's cars,

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. we are awaiting an announcement from the u.s. supreme court on whether the justices whether enter the battle over same-sex marriage in this country. that announcement expected anytime now. the justices met behind closed doors this morning to talk about a series of cases that could take up relating to same-sex marriage, at least four of the nine justices have to agree to take up a case. pete williams joining us live now by telephone from inside the supreme court building. pete, first of all, what what are the separate issues here that the justices could be taking a look at? >> well, there are two and it seems the most likely if the court will take any of these cases is a challenge to a federal law called the defense of marriage act passed by congress in 1996, signed by president clinton. and it says if a couple a legally married under state law, one of the nine states that now or soon will grant the right for same-sex couples to get married,

those marriages are not recognized under federal law and as a practical matter, that deprives those couples of about 1,000 federal benefits. that law has been challenged by lawsuits in several states. if seems pretty likely the court will take that case because it'sen validating an act of congress. so it seems pretty likely that the court will take that or we could find that out this afternoon. now, the other big thing we're watching is the challenge to california's proposition 8, the voter approved measure that was passed in 2008 that ended gay marriage in california. two lower courts have said it's unconstitutional and we're waiting to see if the supreme court will take that case, as well. we should know as you say any minute. >> let's go back to the defense of marriage act here because this is especially interesting considering the president of course earlier this year came

out in support of same-sex marriage and orders eric holder not to defend doma in court. who is going to defend doma before the high court? >> it's actually already happened because in the federal appeals courts when the justice department said it couldn't anymore defend a law because it concluded it was unconstitutional, house republicans stepped into carry on the legal battle and they are already here in the supreme court asking the court to take these cases. so they would defend the law. >> pete williams our man at the supreme court and we should note if there is a development here during this hour, of course pete will come back and we'll break it live. >> you bet. let's bring in constitutional law expert robert shapiro. he's also a former clerk for retired supreme court justice john paul stevens. good afternoon to you, sir. >> good afternoon. >> as more states legalize same-sex marriage, is there going to be more pressure on the

justices to address this issue? >> absolutely. i think the justices inevitably react to the trends that they see around. and as more and more states do it, this issue of what is going to be the federal treatment of state declarations of same-sex marriage is inevitably going to a rise. and that's why i think it is likely that the supreme court will address the challenges to the defense of marriage act to really decide that issue about whether the federal government can have its own definition of marriage or whether it will have to defer to the state's definition of marriage with regard to this issue as it usually does with regard to other aspects of marriage. >> if the high court takes up doma, if they decide on doma, if we get a decision sometime in the summer, what will that then mean for the same-sex marriage debate going forward in america? >> well, i think that will begin to move things along when we see increasing recognition then of same-sex marriage. because we see it now recognized in several states. and if doma is struck down, that

will mean as a practical matter the federal government is also recognizing same-sex marriage. not requiring it. not granting on its own. but it will be federal officials applying federal law who are treating people of the same sex as married and i think that will inevitably move the public debate forward. >> with regards to doma, my understanding is the major issues in the cases that the justices are considering include material benefits, state benefits, state referendums. would it be a lot to tackle all of those issues simultaneously? >> well, there certainly are a lot of different issues involved in the case. but i think really it comes down to one main issue which is when it comes to marriage, is that going to be defined by the states or by the federal government. the answer has always been by the states and the question is whether that be the same situation here. and in fact that's why some people think the supreme court might be willing to strike down doma. not so much because they're sympathetic to same-sex marriage, but because they're

sympathetic to states. there's the issue about federalism, that marriage is defined by the states, not by the federal government. >> what can we make of previous decisions? if we look at previous decisions that this court has made, is there anything that we can glean from a possible outcome with regards to doma? >> i think with regard to doma, we can, because we've seen a supreme court that is very sympathetic to the rights of states. and certainly in this supreme court one always looks to justice anthony kennedy who tends to be the deciding vote in so many controversial cases. now, in some cases he's shown some sympathy to gay and lesbian rights issues. and he's also been sympathetic to the case. so i think -- to the states. so i think for many people this is just the kind of the perfect storm for justice kennedy. it can show that he's sympathetic to the kinds of liberty interests of gays and lesbians while at the same time being sympathetic to the states. having said that of course, the issue of gay marriage, the

supreme court is studiously avoided actually deciding anything on this in the past. so it really would be hard to predict with regard to that particular question what will inevitably see. >> what kind of tame table might we be looking at should they decide to take up one of these cases? >> well, i think between they decide to take it up, we'll hear oral argument in the spring and then the supreme court will decide it as they always do before they recess. usually at the end of june. so by the 4th of july, we should have the answer. >> constitutional law expert, robert shapiro, thank you, sir. >> thank you. developing news from the middle east right now. a day after a symbolic u.n. vote on the palestinian bid for statehood. israel approves thousands of new settlements in the west bank. plus texas senator elect ted cruz not even sworn in yet, but he's already fueling speculation of a 2016 run. just one of the things that we thought you should know. anncr: some politicians seem to think medicare and...

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developing right now, israel has just approved expanding settlementses in the west huang and east jerusalem with 3,000 new housing units set to be built. this of course comes in the wake of the u.n. general assembly voting to recognize palestinian state. such construction has been a major stumbling block in the peace process that has been stalled for four years now. the palestinian authority was quick to condemn israel's action today. >> it's something that needed to stop even before this move by us and i see no justification whatsoever. the fact we did what we did should not be viewed as providing guns. >> and we are just getting a response from the white house. the national security council saying in part we reiterate our long opposition to settlements

and east jerusalem construction. direct negotiations remain the goal of the united states. tens of thousands of protesters crowd the streets of cairo after president morsi draft as new constitution overnight. we'll get a live report and what's next for ambassador susan rice after her week of meetings on capitol hill to try to end the back and forth over benghazi? we'll get the political postscript with mark murray. be sure to check out the news nation tumbler page. you'll find lots of behind the scenes -- there's one right there. it's news nation.tumbler.com. wasn't my daughter's black bean soup spectacular?

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programming note. david drgregory will interview m geithner on meet the press sunday on nbc. check your local listings for times. back now to the news nation political postscript. much of this week was dominated by the looming fiscal cliff. we've heard a lot of talk, a little progress, and several signs that this debate may go up to the last minute. >> i will violate the pledge, long story short, for the good of the country only if democrats will do entitlement reform. >> no pledge taker has voted for a tax increase. >> times have changed significantly and i care more about this country than i do about a 20-year-old pledge. >> we would certainly highlight who has kept their commitment and who hasn't. >> if the president's willing to accept 80% of the bush tax cuts for 98% of the american people, and make them permanent, i think that is a point we should agree on. >> if congress does nothing,

every family in america will see their taxes automatically go up at the beginning of next year. >> time for the president, congressional democrats to tell the american people what spending cuts they're really willing to make. >> the president has made his proposal. we need a proposal from them. >> those are the highlights. let's bring in mark murray. mark, good friday to you. negotiations started in earnest yesterday. the treasury secretary delivering the president's opening offer, we hear kentucky senator mitch mcconnell literally laughed aloud there in the room. what's the message that the white house is trying to send here? >> the message the white house is trying to send is republicans, you would actually be well advised to actually cut a deal. the white house seems to have the leverage right now, craig, and whether it was president obama's re-election, whether it's some of the republicans

like the sound you actually played from tom cole who seems to be going to the white house position, the bush tax cuts should be extended for the middle class, but for the middle class only. so the white house by creating all these big demands including more tax revenue, but also saying, hey, congress, we want to take away your power on the debt ceiling limit to have all these asks that tim geithner apparently made was basically to make republicans cave on the one thing the white house really wants, and that is to decouple the bush tax cuts for the middle class and the wealthy. >> do you think the white house has done a good job explaining that every american will get a tax cut on their first $250,000 of income? >> that's a great question and president obama made that in his remarks today. he's actually been making it in the past. and it is actually something that we as journalists haven't done a very good job pointing out. that even if you are a billionaire, you aren't taxed at the highest rate until you actually start your income

across a certain threshold. so the first $15,000 is taxed at one level. then the next $400,000 is at another level and that's what's called marginal tax rates. and i think sometimes we confuse that with what a person makes in the income versus that margin all rate breakdown. >> smik al smerconish made an interesting point. why is it that we seem to be hearing so much in public and reading so much on to wit awitt blogs about the negotiations. would both sides not be better served trying to get this deal done behind closed doors? why all the posturing? >> craig, this is the posturing team. there is one simple rule about how washington works. it really needs a deadline to force people to make tough votes. and the deadlines that are coming up are when the fiscal cliff occurs at the end of the year or more frankly the thanksgiving -- the christmas holiday season when members of

congress probably want to get away and get away from washington for good or at least for a while. and so the real negotiations won't occur until we get really close to christmas or close to the very end of the year. and now we're in the stage where people are kind of making demands, having press conferences, using pr techniques. but the real negotiations won't occur until at least mid-december. >> let's move to the other big topic in washington this week. of course u.n. ambassador susan rice on the hill. she met with several republican senators who have threatened to block her possible nomination as secretary of state. let's play those highlights, as well. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before. >> i want to say that i'm more troubled today. >> i left that meeting with less of a feeling about her judgment

and about her suitability to be secretary of state. >> susan rice has done a great job. of course this decision about my successor is up to the president. >> susan rice is extraordinary. couldn't be prouder of the job that she's done. >> the president could name hillary clinton's successor as early as next week. would the white house have sent susan rice to these meetings if the president did not intend to nominate her? >> that's why she's the front-runner for this position and why a lot of everyone is almost kind of taking it as a fait accompli, that she would be that person if somebody is named next week it would end up being susan rice. but let's make no mistake, this has been a very tough week for susan rice. a lot of what we end up hearing from republicans on the senate side were some pretty tough critiques of her and her statements initially after those benghazi attack.

but also what is clear is that there still is a pretty good chance that she could be confirmed. all the criticisms that we end up hearing, there was rarely a sense of somebody stating uny unequivocally i will vote against her. but it will be interesting to see if the white house moves next week and if that person is susan rice is named the successor. >> your office mate there chuck todd says expect senator john kerry to be offered the top spot at defense if rice gets the nomination for state. but the senator's aides have said he is not interested in running the pentagon at all. if asked, do you think john kerry turns down that offer? >> i doubt that he would turn down that offer. everything that we're hearing is that he would be eager to serve in a second term administration. it would be being secretary of defense is one of the highest profile positions. and of course if somehow susan rice falters or isn't nominated, john kerry is there as the backup.

and i will say this during the whole rice kerr flufl, john kerry has been a good soldier. he's even backed up susan rice. and he said and done all the right things. i wouldn't be surprised if the white house has also noticed that. >> it really does have to be an awkward position. all right. mark murray, thank you, sir. we're watching developments in egypt, as well, where tens of thousands of protesters have been jamming cairo's tahrir square for hours now. they denouncing president morsi and that draft constitution his islamic allies approved early today. james maceda joining me live. it appears reminiscent of the scene two years ago. >> reporter: you're right. and i want to point out something that's just happened within the last couple of minutes. we've seen some exchanges of

blows, some scuffling going on between what looks like mostly anti-morsi people who are here obviously, this is an opposition demonstration, and perhaps some infiltrated pro morsi people. it's hard to tell. but just down below us, there was some scuffling, some punching out, and using sticks. and suddenly the group were thrown by undercover security into a van and driven off. this all just happened a few moments ago. you're absolutely right that we get that feeling of two years ago here. you've got a massive crowd, by last estimate about 100,000 here tonight, packed into this square. it's of course ground zero 2011 resolution. and you can hear them chanting leave, leave and the people want to bring down the regime. the same expected against

mubarak. today they're meant for morsi. these are people who are mixed bag. young, old, male, lots of female, from all walks of life. and they are part of this opposition movement that's really been galvanized over the past week or two by -- last week i should say by morsi's sudden decree that has given him of course so much power. but now they're also protesting against something else and it is an important point to make here. they're concerned about and reject entirely this flawed draft constitution which they say doesn't represent them at all, but, rather, represents morsi's muslim brotherhood and other iz lacslamist who approve rushed constitution. they say now that to ratify the draft constitution is just a political employ by morsi to get him out of the current jam that he's in because keep in mind once there is a new constitution, morsi can hand over much of that controversial

power to the parly the and then he gains a state with a constitution that has a very, very strong islamist bias. one which by the way critics and international human rights experts today were criticizing, were concerned about, it could be a constitution that seriously inhibits freedom of speech, freedom of religion, as well as women's rights and much more. so, craig, it's really upping the ante. the protest is no longer just about a power grab. it's about what kind of country egyptians down below want. and those people there are saying passionately that they don't want what morsi has to offer. >> jim, as you have been talking about this draft constitution, we have zoomed in on some of the pictures that you described, a well, the 100,000 or so protesters who have gathered in tahrir square. and we've witnessed some of the fistacuffs that you talked

about. is this akin to what you've also been seeing, have we seen blows being exchanged or is this something new? >> there have been now for the past nine days ongoing skirmishes, clash, whatever you want to call it between protest ares, a group of protest are, not necessarily part of any specific organization that take on the security forces when they have the opportunity to do so. that has led to two killed so far and several hundred injured. not just here in cairo, but up in the now river delta, alexandria, places like that. so that has been going on independent of this. these demonstrations here on the other hand have been relatively nonviolent. festive at times. we haven't seen that type of

violence over the past week here. they've been very careful to stay on message, and it's been since for about a week now,s's been entirely the anti-morsi faction or opposition. they want to get the message out that they're staying here, sitting in or demonstrating until the draft constitution is literally torn up. >> jim made maceda, thank you. coming up, snas revealing a major discovery on mercury. we'll have you for you next. plus why dollar bills could soon be a thing of the past. it's just one of the things that we thought you should know. ♪

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victory on immigration. the house today approved a republican immigration bill aimed at providing more visas to foreign nationals with advanced college degrees. but the bill has little chance of making it through the senate. that's because it's opposed by democrats. democrats say they oppose it because it eliminates a program that provides visas for people from underrepresented countries. emergency crews are responding to a freight train rhee t derailment in southern new jersey. at least 28 people were taken to a local hospital. they claimed they were having breathing problems. the cause of the derailment is under investigation. and scientists have found new evidence that frozen water exists on the planet mercury. these are some photos that come from nasa's mercury orbiting probe. scientists say the findings could help explain how other planets including earth were formed.

meet the new millionaires. a couple from dearborn, missouri have stepped up with one of the two winning tickets in this week's $587 million power ball jackpot. cindy hill was the one who bought the ticket. >> it's just surreal. i mean, it's like you're in a dream and it's not really happening, you know. and every once in a while, you look at each other and go did we really win that money? >> meanwhile the identity of the second ticket holder still a mystery of sorts. but a gas station cashier in maryland says a man came in yesterday to check the winning numbers and then showed him what appeared to be a winning ticket. nbc's jay gray did not win the power ball lottery. he is in dearborn, missouri. jay, what are you hearing about how the hill family plans to spend all that money? >> reporter: i was going to say,

meet the new missouri millionaire, meet the two guys craig and jay that didn't win a dime. they still say they're trying to figure out how to spend all the money. we're in their quiet neighborhood, not used to the kind of excitement they've seen over the last couple of days. the hills are trying to figure out what they'll do. they do know they'll set up for college funds with grand kids, theses, nephews, a scholarship in the local school district, they'll also donate to charities. they've adopted a young girl from china, so one of those will be an adoption charity. otherwise they say they'll just try to get back to normal, but i think they're beginning to realize normal will be much different at this point. when you talk to people around town, what they'll tell you is it cooperate have happened to a better couple and a better family. these are two people who have really struggled over the last couple of years in and out of work, mostly out of work. so to get this money is a real bonus. in fact cindy hill said this

morning that she had already bought their christmas present this is year and had warned the kids it's not going to be the christmas we're used to. she suction queptsly said this is going to be a great christmas. so, yeah, i think there will be something in the stocking once christmas rolls around. >> what you can tell us about the other mystery winner? >> reporter: how wild is this. so the ticket's bought in arizona. yesterday, more than 1,000 miles away in maryland, a guy walks in and says, hey, what were those lotto numbers for the power ball last night. takes a look. and goes berserk. you see it in the surveillance video where he's stunned and excited and he's saying -- pounding the counter telling the clerk i won. he gets on the phone, forgets to pay for his gas, comes back in and does that. what he didn't tell everyone was his name or how the ticket got so far away. so that is still very much a mystery. >> all right. thank you so much there, jay gray in dearborn. we should note here that the

hill family will split some $293 million before uncle sam gets his cut. news nation gut check is up next. we're talking about those bonuses handed out to the hostess execs. my doctor told me calcium is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. citracal slow release.

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a lot going on this friday and here are some of the things we just thought you should know. could dollar bills be a thing of the past in congressional auditors say doing away with dollar bills and replacing them with dollar coins could save taxpayers almost 4.5 million bucks. and sthor elect ted cruz has not even been sworn in and he's already stoking speculation of a 2016 presidential run. speaking at a conservative dinner last night, he said his party needs to rebrand itself

under the banner of, quote, opportunity conservatism. remember those words. he also claimed his party's election boss was who are about poor messaging than a rejection of republican ideology. and it's beginning to look a lot like christmas at the white house. take a look at this just released video of bo. p there he is right there. of course the first family's dog. there he is showing off the holiday decorations at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. that's an adorable dog. those are just a few of the things we thought you should know. time now for our news nation gut check. hostess executives will walk away with nice bonuses after taking the company into bankruptcy. a federal judge has ruled that the plan to split almost $2 million between 19 executives is appropriate. the judge also noted that about 3,000 hostess employees will actually get paid beyond their salaries. the company's ceo declined to

take a bonus. so what does your gut tell you? do you agree with the bankruptcy court's ruling? should hostess executives get bonuses? go to facebook.com/newsnation to vote. and that whethill do it for me. the cycle is up next. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop?

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